Another week on the books! We’re still maintaining a little over 100 games logged per week in this campaign. The exciting news this week is we broke 1000 entries!  As of this update, we have 1060 entries in the 2022 Summer of Plunder Campaign.

We have one month left in the campaign this year. Let’s see if we can finish the campaign with 1,500 entries this year (we had 272 entries last year).

Photo from Billy McIntire

Nation Report

Spain maintains a lead, but that lead has shrunk from over 50 points fo a mere 19 points! It appears the Spanish empire is suffering from corruption and apathy! This may be the time to strike and see a new nation take its place as the new super power in the New World. England seems primed to make that move with a 40 point lead over the next nation.

Photo from David Nye

The Dutch have moved into 3rd for the first time this campaign, pushing out the pirates and the French who seemed to be making huge progress last week.

The Scottish effort gained new lift this week, logging several more games, bringing their total to 32 games.

A Word About Late Submissions

I’ve talked to a couple people who didn’t submit some games because they were late or the week had turned over and the objective had changed. Don’t let that stop you from entering games! If your entry is a couple days, or even a week or more late, it’s not a big deal. I would request you don’t build up a list of 10+ games and enter them all at once just because that makes the data entry more unpredictable and overwhelming, but don’t stop participating just because you don’t have a chance to submit your info right away. Email us at bandpcampaign@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Individual Report

Photo from Jason Klotz

At 146 points, Jason Klotz has maintained his lead for the third week in a row now! The curve has evened out a little bit for the top 5, but it’s still a pretty steep curve. You need 18+ points to get into the top 30 at this point in the campaign.

After teaching several new players to play Oak & Iron and scoring max points on several games, Matthew Doerr made a huge leap from about 20th place last week to 6th place this week.

Week 9 Objective Report – Support the Merchants

Photo from David Boeren

There was an increased number of games played at game stores this week, but it was still a minority. I hope an increased presence out there helped pull some new players into the hobby!

Photo from Matthew Doerr

Of the 138 entries this week, only 50 were played at a gaming store. That number really surprised me! Try to get out to your gaming store and show off the game, get it on the radar for your retailer, and use that publicity to expose people to these awesome games!

Week 10 Objective – Upgrade the Flagship

This week is about the big ships! To score the bonus objective point this week, you need to include a ship of size 3 or above in your Blood & Plunder force. A Brigantine, Light Frigate, Fluyt, 6th Rate Frigate, Galleon and any of the alternate rigs for those models will fulfill the objective. If your faction doesn’t allow for a ship of that size (Natives, Expeditionary Forces etc), you can earn the point by fighting against a ship of that size.

This might be the week to stretch your game size up to 200 points or even higher! A Brigantine can be well armed at 200 points and you can really start to fill up a Light Frigate at 300. It’s time for some larger games!

For Oak & Iron, you need to include a Ship of the Line in your force. This would be a Frigate of the 4th Rate class or larger.

Weekly Photo Prize Winner

This week’s photo prize goes to Garrett Swader. He’s been submitting a good number of Spanish and French entries for Blood & Plunder and Oak & Iron and his pictures have been consistently high quality!

Photo by Garrett Swader

The weekly prize for the photo of the week is the Firelock Games organized play kit of 3 limited edition models and a set of commander cards for the South Sea Adventure.

N00b of the Month Prize

Each month we’re giving out a major prize to a player who has recently started playing.  This prize consists of a Sloop, a nationality box of 25 minis and a deck of activation cards for your chosen nation. July’s award goes to Paul Chouinard. Paul has been submitting games as Dutch and Iroquois (with Samurai proxies) and has been sending in some great pics.

Paul has been submitting games as Dutch and Iroquois (with Samurai proxies) and has been sending in some great pics.

Reminder of End Campaign Objectives

There’s lots of prizes to works for at the end of the campaign! Check out the big list at the end of this update .

There’s actually a major prize for a player from the losing nation at the end of this campaign. Right now the Native Americans are doing great at losing. It would take a lot of work at not playing any games to overtake them at the bottom at this point.

At the end of the campaign, a random player from the losing nation will receive a fully painted         (fully operational) Stone Tower Fort. This is a $98 model with several hours of work put into it! And the cruel, cruel irony right now is Natives can’t use this fortification! So everyone needs to log games as Natives so you have a chance at the Fort (and if enough people try for the fort, maybe the Natives won’t be at the bottom any more!).

Commander Reports

Now, here are the important messages from your beloved commanders.

Spain

The Spanish were extremely busy resting on their laurels this week. No comment available.

Photo by Michael Verity

Current Spanish Objectives

• Most Spanish  points at end of campaign- Painted Spanish commander

Photo from David Nye

England

Commanders of England,

English Commanders, it’s time to make our move and push past Spain to regain the lead! This week it’s Upgrade the Flagship! Add a 3 or larger ship in your force to get the extra points! but don’t let that stop you from submitting matches! Just a reminder the Commander that plays most games as England will win this week’s prize a Bark, 4 light cannons, 4 swivel guns, anchor, 2 sails, 2 Flags fully rigged and painted by your English Faction Commander. Good luck to all and most importantly have a lot of fun!

Current English Objectives

• Most English points at end of campaign- Painted English commander
• Best painted army at end of campaign – spike defenses
• Most games at end of campaign – wigwam
• Most games played as an English commander during week 7 “Frontier Wars” – painted Benjamin Church model.
• Most games played as an English commander during week 10 “Upgrade the Flagship”- painted Bark rigged with sails and a flag.
• Best English Spirit- Will win 4ground Ports of Plunder Medium Dock Bundle! This commander has to complete most of their matches as the English faction. I am also looking for pics of your matches, videos of sea shanties dressing up in your best English attire etc. Have a lot of fun and be creative! When you post something just tag me in it! I will be picking a winner at the end of the second last week of campaign week 13

France

Soldats fidèles,

You have done well, loyal captains! France remains neck & neck with the filthy Pirates and scheming Dutch.

Today, we add two names to the tableau d’honneur. Joining Chris Asche, Marquis d’Antilles, and Andy Hodges, Enseigne du Roi, are David Groves, Amiral a la Marine, and Brendan Derry, Signeur d’Martinique.

Prizes are to be sent out to David for his efforts as a French captain in Oak & Iron, and to Ethan for playing the most games for France this month.

In response to Dutch aggression, our Radiant Sovereign granted an audience to his cousin James VII, rightful king of England, Ireland, and Scotland, recently deposed by the Dutch pretender William III. In sympathy, the French have pledged troops to aid our ally, and King James is offering prizes to any loyal Scotman who declares for France this month.

Completing objectives using either the Scottish Militia from No Peace, or the (unofficial) Jacobite list from No Dice No Glory, and claiming them for France will net you prizes from both the Scottish commander, and a unit of Highlanders from myself.

Finally, our Radiant Sovereign, King Louis XIV has also seen fit to extend prizes to the French captain who claims the most points for France. Do this by playing games and completing weekly objectives. Remember – teaching a new player scores bonus points.

Pour Doiture et la Couronne

For July, current French Objectives

•  Games for France! A prize to the player who claims the most points for France
• A prize and title for the player who claims the most Scottish points for France
• Most French points at end of campaign- Painted French commander Francois l’Olonnaise

Photo by Andy Hodges

Netherlands

Another packet ship arrived today, with continued good news. We are maintaining our lead over the French and Pirates, while closing in on the English and Spanish. Now is the time to commit our largest vessels, both to defend against any attempts by the French or Pirates (but I repeat myself…) to retake position ahead of us, but also to continue to chase down the Spanish and English.

Photo from Nicholas Basham

Current Dutch Objectives

• Most Dutch points at end of campaign- Painted Dutch commander
• Sink or capture Any Nationality ship this week – reinforcement models
• A prize to the Dutch player who completes the weekly objective Upgrade the Flagship the most times – even if you already got a prize for capturing a ship!

Photo from Matthrew Doerr

Native American

Canonchet and Black Kettle are in an epic duel for control of the Native Americans.

Current Native American Objectives

• Most Native  points at end of campaign- Painted Native commander
• A random player who logs games against the French (noted in the comments section of the submission form) will win a bonus prize (each participant can only qualify once).

Pirates

Ahoy there Pirates!

We need to set up our game! Our lead has been slowly eroded and now we are attempting to stay ahead of the Dutch! We need to go out in force and take back our seas, lest we become subjects amid tyrants! Grab your size 3+ ship and take to the waves!

Your boisterous leader

-The Boyar

Current Pirate Objectives

• Most Pirate points at end of campaign- Painted Pirate commander
• At the end of each month, the pirate with the most played games will receive a 4 man blister
• The first to send a report (with pictures) of a Oak and Iron Pirate ship(s) capturing a Ship of the Line will receive a Gentlemen of Fortune or Men of War Box Set
  

  Photo by Preston Jacka

Scottish

This week was a good one for the Scottish. We had 7 games played, scoring 11 points! Two new Scottish players joined our cause, so they will be getting prize cards. Additionally, Caleb Haynes completed the taunting objective, impressively stopping a charge by inflicting 3 fatigue on a fresh unit! Pictured below is a picture from that game, and he will be getting a prize for completing this objective. As I still have prizes, I’ll be leaving this task open for another player to complete.

As it prompted cool images and theme, I’d like to reopen the prize quest for including Scottish miniatures or other items in a game. Two of these prizes will be made available (same prize of a Scottish deck of cards as before, max once per player), so let’s see some more Scottish flair in games!

Lastly, for Scottish, Tyler Stone made a super cool Highlander faction that definitely counts towards all Scottish prize quests, so check it out! It’s not official, so make sure your opponent is okay with playing against it, but it sure looks like a lot of fun to me!

Sadly, nobody allied with natives this week, so there’s nobody to give the prize to. Hopefully next week we’ll see some native support!

Current Scottish Objectives

• Most Scottish points at end of campaign – Painted Scottish commander (customized and with choice of clan colours)
• Taunt or bait an opponent into charging you (shut down an opponent’s charge with a defensive attack) – taunting highlander models
• Play as the Scottish and get a promo card!
• Play a game as Scottish and take a picture with cool Scottish miniatures/ship flags (or other Scottish gameplay components) and win a Scottish deck of playing cards (2/5 left)

Current Unaligned Objectives

• Player with most unaligned (not pirates) games that choose natives for the points each week will receive a blister pack of native reinforcements

Thanks for reading! Have a good week. Just as a reminder, here’s the list of prizes to be awarded at the end of the campaign. We had a ton of good photos I wasn’t able to fit into the post so I’ll try to do another photo gallery post this week.

Photo from Dexter Heide

End of Campaign Prizes

At the end of the campaign (and maybe some throughout the summer), more than $1000 in prizes will be awarded! Prizes will include:

• Grand Prize – Random Player of Winning Faction
  • Your choice of a Galleon or 6th Rate Frigate with a set of Seamon’s Quality Sails

• Most Notorious Pirate – Single Player with the Most Campaign Points
  • A  $100 Firelock Games Coupon Code

• Tiny Captain – Most Oak & Iron Games Logged
  • A Ships of the Line box of Oak & Iron Ships and a set of deluxe movement templates

• Pirate Journalist – Most Game Photos Submitted
  • Your choice of a Benerson Little book, possibly/hopefully signed by the author

• Resilient Commander – Random Player from the Losing Nation
  • A fully painted Stone Tower Fort (this will help you win next time)

• Hardened Mercenary – Player who has played under the most flags (factions as tie-breaker)
  • Set of 3 Genuine 17th Century Fortune Coins

• National Hero – Players who have Logged the Most Games in Each Nation
  • National Commander Mini hand painted by your nation’s Commander

• Press Ganger – Most New Players Taught
  • A Collector’s Edition 17th Century Blood & Plunder Rulebook

• 2022 Noob of the Year – Random Player Who Started Playing Blood & Plunder in 2022
  • A Two Player Starter Set from the Raise the Black Kickstarter (delivered as soon as it’s available).

• Hoist Your Colors – Best Painted Minis in Photos
  • Set of Size 0 & 00 Winsor & Newton Series 7 Brushes

• Pyratical Portraiture – Best Painted Commander Mini in Photos
  • 28mm WIP portrait of your nation’s commander

• Land Worth Fighting For – Best Looking Table
  • Stone Walls handmade by Dexter Heide

• Merchant Escort – Most games at FLGS
  • Docks handmade made by Dexter Heide

• More may be announced!